[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

But, to compare what the FOTRS AI capabilities are compared to what the real life counterparts actually could do.....its like comparing an orange to a raisin.

It's like comparing a firecracker to a hand grenade.

[Obi Heed Kenobi]

All,

Thanks again for putting all the work that you're putting into this.

Two things that I haven't seen mentioned yet (although I've only skimmed the 239 pages of this thread) that have popped out at me:

1. Battery recharge rate - it seems to be overly slow. For instance, it takes a couple of days to recharge from ~50%. I've actually turned on unlimited battery.

2. I keep running into giant whaling fleets, many of which contain numerous factory ships. In fact, I rarely make it a patrol area because I keep spending all my torpedoes on factory ships and end up with 100K plus tonnage.

Hope it helps!

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by Obi Heed Kenobi

All,

Thanks again for putting all the work that you're putting into this.

Two things that I haven't seen mentioned yet (although I've only skimmed the 239 pages of this thread) that have popped out at me:

1. Battery recharge rate - it seems to be overly slow. For instance, it takes a couple of days to recharge from ~50%. I've actually turned on unlimited battery.

2. I keep running into giant whaling fleets, many of which contain numerous factory ships. In fact, I rarely make it a patrol area because I keep spending all my torpedoes on factory ships and end up with 100K plus tonnage.

Hope it helps!

#1 - Check this post from 2012.

#2 - I have sailed hundreds upon hundreds of miles testing and testing again, i've never been so lucky... I barely see any IJN traffic, but thats partly because I often head straight to allied harbors in the early days of the war to test them and find problematic ships..

I must start heading towards the Jap mainland, i hear there's a war on?!?!

[gutted]

I'm a few years into a .52 FOTRSU campaign (early '44 now), and i think i've only run into like 3 or 4 whaling convoys. And they never had more than 2 whale factory ships among them. Most were the smaller whaling boats.

[gutted]

I know capnscurvy is working on this, but last night i decided on a whim to switch from a bow mounted deck gun to stern. During my next patrol i went to gun down a sampan that got too close. I couldn't figure out why my deck gun was taking so long to reload. Later on when in the crew screen i noticed there was no crew section for the deck gun anymore. So i reloaded my in-port save. Changed the deck gun to stern mount again and sure enough, the deck gun crew station disappears. Not sure what happens to the actual crew members that were there before the change, but after.. there's no place to assign the deck gun with crew.

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi gutted
I mentioned this a little while ago on this thread.
This has always been a SH4 problem when moving deck gun positions.
The crew and slots disappear, but the Aft deck gun slot still shows.
I got around this problem by starting a new career and selected a Narwahl
Peter

[geosub1978]

The FOTRS Ultimate has resurrected the SH4 for me. I now play it again after 9 years! However:

1. How can someone desolate the enormous periscopes and revert back to stock sizes?
2. How can someone disable the sound contacts while on surface?
3. How can someone make the AI passive sonar detection ranges shorter?

These are the ''must do'' alternations for me!

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by gutted

I know capnscurvy is working on this, but last night i decided on a whim to switch from a bow mounted deck gun to stern. During my next patrol i went to gun down a sampan that got too close. I couldn't figure out why my deck gun was taking so long to reload. Later on when in the crew screen i noticed there was no crew section for the deck gun anymore. So i reloaded my in-port save. Changed the deck gun to stern mount again and sure enough, the deck gun crew station disappears. Not sure what happens to the actual crew members that were there before the change, but after.. there's no place to assign the deck gun with crew.

I'm hoping to have this fixed.

I've got a working Tambor (that's the sub I've been working on) that has had no problems with the various points of start time. FORTSU has twice the start time points than the stock game, and so far what I've been able to do is get all the start dates to give you a choice in either Stern or Bow Deck Guns mounts (purchased through Renown when in port) and the Crew Management screen corresponds to the switch every time.

I'm going to have the default DG to be the 3"50cal Stern mount for all subs...all times. It will be your choice to keep the Stern mount or choose Bow mounts, along with the choice of upgrading to a 4"50 or a 5"25 at specific times (as they become available). The Double 5".25 will be offered Jan 1, 1945 for all boats, except for the S-Class....they won't have the option to move to a Stern mount at any time either.

Your AA guns will start out as the Browning .50 cal at the Stern mount position. They will have the same kind of offer for an upgrade to a 20mm single through the purchase of Renown. They too will receive upgrades up to the 40mm Bofors (first single, then twin), either Stern or Bow mount, as the time period evolves. The crews will increase in size as the specific gun warrants. So far, I've had success with the one sub......the rest will follow.

It's simply the process of getting all subs to work on the same page, with all upgrades doing the same. I think this will produce the kind of smooth, seamless upgrades/refit that we expect.

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by geosub1978

The FOTRS Ultimate has resurrected the SH4 for me. I now play it again after 9 years! However:

1. How can someone desolate the enormous periscopes and revert back to stock sizes?
2. How can someone disable the sound contacts while on surface?
3. How can someone make the AI passive sonar detection ranges shorter?

These are the ''must do'' alternations for me!

As far as the size of the periscope's viewable area. The stock game make's you feel like your standing in the middle of the room, looking out a porthole! There are mods that have been made to use the stock "port hole" look of the scopes, and dress the surrounding area up with room furnishings! The fact is, your eye was less than an inch away from the scope lens, with a "cup" surrounding it to keep out light. All you saw was the lens and the field of view held within. At one inch separation, the lens WILL look large. As a side element, the larger view will help in manual targeting....nothing wrong in that.

[gutted]

Yeah i never understood why ppl like having the small peepholes on screen. Your eye is not a foot away from the periscope viewer.

[Obi Heed Kenobi]

On my previous post, based on what some people said regarding torpedo tubes slots and date you take command of the boat, I tried starting a campaign in Jan 1944. That solved the issue with crew slots for the 40mm. So it looks like the crew slots are date-based.

Still ran into more whaling fleets, though.

Also, thanks for the link on the charging for S-boat batteries. Interesting stuff. I've noticed it in game on Porpoise, Gato, and Balao boats.

[gutted]

I'm starting to agree on excessive charge times on fleet boats. I'm early '44 on the USS Balao, and it took ~14.5 hours to recharge from 72% to 100% cruising around at standard speed.

[gutted]

Did another test. From 87-91% it took almost 8 hours. That's quite a long time for just 4% charge.

[CapnScurvy]

We may have to look at those Battery Charge times. Sounds like they take too long.

Hey Propbeanie, you mentioned the other day about the dim lit (no, I didn't say dim wit!) camera icon on the HUD display. You said it was too dim to see well when on a Photo Recon mission. The icon will "light" when the target of the Photo Recon mission is centered in view. I don't know if this will help, but I took a look at the proper image file for the icon and found the Alpha Channel image of the camera icon not quite having the complete transparency it could have. I've changed it, with the hope of getting poor old eyes to see it clearer. Just a "heads up" when I complete my work on the equipment and their upgrades.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

We may have to look at those Battery Charge times. Sounds like they take too long.

Hey Propbeanie, you mentioned the other day about the dim lit (no, I didn't say dim wit!) camera icon on the HUD display. You said it was too dim to see well when on a Photo Recon mission. The icon will "light" when the target of the Photo Recon mission is centered in view. I don't know if this will help, but I took a look at the proper image file for the icon and found the Alpha Channel image of the camera icon not quite having the complete transparency it could have. I've changed it, with the hope of getting poor old eyes to see it clearer. Just a "heads up" when I complete my work on the equipment and their upgrades.

Working my way up the list of posts here... but I do thank you for looking into that Capn. Any little bit on that will help for any future modding for photo recons.

Originally Posted by gutted

Did another test. From 87-91% it took almost 8 hours. That's quite a long time for just 4% charge.

Have any of you by chance noticed that the batteries also seem to drain perhaps a little too quickly? Almost like the batts were made in 1912, and not maintained too well?...

Originally Posted by Obi Heed Kenobi

On my previous post, based on what some people said regarding torpedo tubes slots and date you take command of the boat, I tried starting a campaign in Jan 1944. That solved the issue with crew slots for the 40mm. So it looks like the crew slots are date-based.

Still ran into more whaling fleets, though.

Also, thanks for the link on the charging for S-boat batteries. Interesting stuff. I've noticed it in game on Porpoise, Gato, and Balao boats.

As for those whaling ships, about what time frame, and where abouts are you when you're seeing all of those? We cut ~way~ back on several RGG that spawned them, especially those coming out of Antartica westbound to Japan, but I haven't payed too much attention to along the Kurile Island chain until just the other day when doing some more Aleutian's work, but I haven't gotten into the composition of the RGG just yet... ??